Media Effects on Public Opinion about a Newspaper Strike

Abstract

This study examines antecedents of public involvement in and support for a strike by newspaper journalists in a two-newspaper metropolitan area. Specifically, we focus on the role that perceptions of journalists and the news media, as well as mediated and direct experience, play in shaping involvement and support for the strike. Using data from a probability sample of 456 respondents, we find differential effects of the specific newspaper read by respondents as well as attention paid to newspaper and television news. Results indicate that direct experience, attention to newspaper news, and knowledge of local politics have an impact on strike involvement. Perceptions of news organizations as profit-driven and views of local media drive perceptions of the legitimacy of striking journalists' concerns.